I realized later that Amtrak style dual mode locos would be usable as is on a Hudson line-LIRR thru commuter train (presuming they don’t have clearance issues). The Amtrak trains run diesel along the MetroNorth electric zones, so the dont need a 3rd rail shoe for the MN zone, only a LIRR style shoe for Penn station and beyond. I presume the ATK dual modes have a 3rd rail shoe that retracts or otherwise does not get in the way of MN 3rd rail.
Some one mentioned the Reading Terminal Market?
We’ve been there, and let me tell you if you’re a foodie and you’re in Philly DON’T miss it! So much good stuff in there you’ll feel like a blind dog in a meat-house, not knowing where to turn!
Hey, go there even if you’re not a foodie!
I probably rounded it a little but not as much as above indicates, so I would dispute your source. I lived there and the exchange rate went far north of 3.0 DM to the Dollar.
Officially the Fed Reserve of St. Louis says the peak was 3.29 DM to the Dollar in March 1985 (see link below) but thats only official and according to them, depending on who is doing the exchanging it can be up to 10-15 pfennings off either direction in periods where the rate was rapidly rising…just like what you see at the pump with gasoline. In fact we were briefed where the best rates of exchange were in Germany that were most favorable to dollar holders. One of them was the train station, forget the rest. One of the worst places is the airport. Not sure why DB was considered at or near the top of the list.
I certainly would. But I find it almost infuriating that there is so little about this on the Web - I was only aware that ‘something’ had happened by reading in a caption for a November 1960 picture of commuters in a station near PRR North Philadelphia that they were there on detour during repairs following the fire. A Philadelphia fire history site, discussing the Fretz Building fire in 1963, recaps significant fires up to that date but does not even mention one for the Reading. It’s at times like this that I most miss access to the Complete Collection…
Hardly a ‘rounding error’ or a difference on where one exchanged dollars. You or I could make a fortune arbitraging on such an error if there were one.
I used this link. I used the right column, annual averages
Even better
[quote user=“schlimm”]
CMStPnP
I probably rounded it a little but not as much as above indicates, so I would dispute your source. I lived there and the exchange rate went far north of 3.0 DM to the Dollar. Officially the Fed Reserve of St. Louis says the peak was 3.29 DM to the Dollar in March 1985
CMStPnP
I probably rounded it a little but not as much as above indicates, so I would dispute your source. I lived there and the exchange rate went far north of 3.0 DM to the Dollar. Officially the Fed Reserve of St. Louis says the peak was 3.29 DM to the Dollar in March 1985 (see link below) but thats only official and according to them, depending on who is doing the exchanging it can be up to 10-15 pfennings off either direction in periods where the rate was rapidly rising…just like what you see at the pump with gasoline. In fact we were briefed where the best rates of exchange were in Germany that were most favorable to dollar holders. One of them was the train station, forget the rest. One of the worst places is the airport. Not sure why DB was considered at or near the top of the list. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/EXGEUS BTW, the plunge right after the peak was caused by a Fed, Treasury Department or German Central Bank announcement they were going to intervene in the market. One of the three intervened though and brought down the rate.
Hardly a ‘rounding error’ or a difference on where one exchan
BTW, the figures I posted for March 1985 were a monthly average…so you know what that means schlimm if you had any math or Algebra, the daily rates for March 1985 spiked higher to get an average at a peak around 3.30 DM to Dollar. So it is not looking good for the University of Santa Barbara at this point. 
Looks more and more llike the max rate hit was indeed above 3.30 a ways and could easily have been 3.5 DM to a Dollar.
Excerpt from PRR Chronology by Christopher T. Baer
http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR_hagley_intro.htm
Jan. 1, 1963 - Biggest fire in Philadelphia history to date destroys the Fretz factory at 10th & Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia; debris topples onto Reading’s “DI” Diamond Street Tower, stopping all service between North Broad Street and Reading Terminal until Jan. 7; Reading runs shuttle buses between Reading Terminal and Wayne Jct. and North Broad Street to meet electric trains; diesel-powered trains run to Reading Terminal via West Falls, Belmont, Park Jct. and the Pennsylvania Avenue Subway.
Ok. You arrived in Germany in June 1984. The rates then were:
1-Jun-84 2.6845
4-Jun-84 2.6660
5-Jun-84 2.6860
6-Jun-84 2.6780
7-Jun-84 2.6950
8-Jun-84 2.6975
11-Jun-84 2.7145
12-Jun-84 2.7250
13-Jun-84 2.7155
14-Jun-84 2.7210
15-Jun-84 2.7410
18-Jun-84 2.7560
19-Jun-84 2.7585
20-Jun-84 2.7790
21-Jun-84 2.7830
22-Jun-84 2.7825
25-Jun-84 2.8035
26-Jun-84 2.7865
27-Jun-84 2.7965
28-Jun-84 2.7835
29-Jun-84 2.7815
You mentioned that six months after your arrival (June, 1984?) so in December 1984, the rates was 3.5%. In fact according to the US Federal Reserve the daily rates were:
Thats pretty close to 3.5 (and it could have been higher than 3.452 depending on where I saw the sign), your making progress and this is a lot better where you started doubting me at 2.94 or something. Not sure why you argue this small stuff, this argument went nowhere and it ended up the highest daily exchange rate was a lot closer to what I thought it was then what you thought. The Germans ran the banks on post via a contract with American Express, AMEX had the travel contract as well. The on post Bank Manager was a compulsive gambler but nobody really cared.
I was there from June 1984 to December 1985. I could have stayed longer but the weather was crappy and it cost a small fortune to fly home for holidays.
That isn’t the fire schlimm was talking about, which was years earlier. Look for something just prior to November 1960, starting in the Trains Complete Collection issues for that period to find the reference that was mentioned.
Hold the phone!! Actually it might have been the Fretz fire. I think I started reading Trains about 1962. The article discussed how the Reading quickly came up with a plan to continue commuter services, but thinking back, the fire was not in the trainshed.
Sorry for the confusion.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 2, 1963
“The Reading railroa
THANK YOU!!
The FL-9s were originally equipped with double-sprung third-rail shoes and could pick up power on both NYCentral and LIRR third rail. But they had to be maintained to close toleranes and ditto the third rail. When maintenance was not up to par, entering the thrid rail zone on Penn Central would simiply nock off the shoe with a shower of sparks and leave the locomotive dependent solely on diesel power. So Metro North quickly substituted a much simpler third-rail shoe, and there was no longer a requirement for FL-9s to run into Penn anyway, since PC and then Amtrak was using GG1s on all New Haven line trains intio Penn Station.
One thing about U.S. money in Germany, I stayed in a hotel on an Army base near Stuttgart in 1978 when my ship was in Genoa. The money was filthy! it didn’t seem to get back to the U.S. to be replaced. It must have happened at some point but it was all dark gray and tattered. Military people got paid, spent it in the PX, back and forth. Army guys said you could live “on the economy” and get paid in Marks (I think) or you stayed on the base and got paid in dollars. Most money is dirty; I worked as a cab driver 30 years ago and the first thing I did after my shift was wash my hands. I guess anyone that handles money for a job would do that.
Went to Las Vegas 30 years ago - woke up early, too early, one morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. Went down to the hotel’s casino with about $5 in change. Played slots and other coin operated games for about 3 hours until I went broke - my hands were filthy!
Amtrak dual-modes use over-running “LIRR-style” third rail just so they can use the ex-NYC West Side freight line in diesel mode and then catch the newer, over-running third-rail-powered tunnel under the Javits Center to Penn Station and back.
Metro-North versions of this same unit use under-running third rail only.
There hasn’t been a “convertible” over/under third-rail shoe since the early FL9 era. The current locomotives are exclusive to each service, and they don’t need to be compatible since Amtrak moved out of Metro-North’s Grand Central Terminal in the early 1990s after the West Side line was put back in service as the Empire Connection.